A Guide to the Eddie Adams Photographic Archive, ca. 1950-2004

The archive spans Adams entire career as a photojournalist in the U.S. and abroad. It includes slides, negatives, prints, and audio and video materials, as well as personal calendars, field notes, assignment files and tear sheets.

Eddie Adams began his photography career as a high school student in Kensington, Pa. He served as a Marine combat photographer during the Korean War, and in 1962, he joined the Associated Press (AP). After 10 years, Adams left the AP for Time magazine and freelance work. In 1976, he rejoined the AP as the first and only photographer to hold the title of special correspondent.

While he was on assignment for the AP, Adams carried his camera through 150 operations in Vietnam. He also covered wars in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, Portugal, Ireland, Lebanon and Kuwait. “Boat of No Smiles,” his series on the Vietnamese boat people, persuaded the United States to admit 200,000 Vietnamese refugees at the end of the war.

From 1980 until his death in 2004, Adams was a photographer for Parade magazine, which featured more than 350 of his photos on its covers.

Adams was awarded more than 500 photojournalism awards during his lifetime, including the George Polk Award for News Photography in 1968, 1977 and 1978, the Robert Capa Gold Medal in 1977 and numerous awards from such organizations as World Press Photo, the National Press Photographers Association, Sigma Delta Chi and the Overseas Press Club.

Measuring 163 linear feet in size, the Eddie Adams Photographic Archive spans Adams entire career as a photojournalist in the U.S. and abroad. In addition to substantive coverage of the Vietnam War, the collection contains the photographer’s in-depth features on poverty in America, the homeless, Mother Teresa, Brazil, alternative society, anti-war demonstrations and riots. The collection also includes his intimate portraits of such high-profile figures as Ronald Reagan, Elie Wiesel, Fidel Castro, Clint Eastwood, Bette Davis, Bill Cosby and Jerry Lewis. The archive includes “Saigon Execution,” Adams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of General Loan executing a Vietnamese prisoner in 1968, widely considered to be one of the most influential photographs taken during the Vietnam War.

The archive is comprised of a wide range of media, including slides, negatives, prints, and audio and video materials, as well as personal calendars, field notes, assignment files and tear sheets. The archive features both contract and freelance work Adams completed for newspapers and news services, including The Daily Dispatch, Evening & Sunday Bulletin, the Associated Press, Time Magazine, and Parade Magazine.

Arrangement

This material is arranged into nine series:

I. Early Newspaper Features, ca. 1950-1960

II. U. S. Marine Corps, ca. 1950s

III. Vietnam Photographs, ca. 1965 - 1977

IV. Celebrities & Portraiture, 1956; 1967; 1972-2001

V. Features, ca. 1962-2004

a. Prints, slides and negatives

b. Audio and video material

VI. Personal Materials, 1954-1959; ca. 1970s

VII. Manuscript Materials, 1957-2000

VIII. Digital Materials, ca. 1980s-2003

IX. Exhibit Prints, ca. 1960-2000

Series I: Early Newspaper Features includes material from Adams’ work for The Daily Dispatch and The Evening & Sunday Bulletin in Pennsylvania, between 1950 and 1960. Series II: U. S. Marine Corps Materials includes material from Adams’ time as a Marine combat photographer during the Korean War. Series III: Vietnam, chronicles Adams’ multiple operations in Vietnam with AP. Series IV: Celebrities & Portraiture and Series V: Features incorporates the majority of the collection materials and documents Adam’s later work with AP as special correspondent and with Parade magazine cover stories. Series VI: Personal Materials includes family portraits and snapshots taken of and by Adams. Series VII: Manuscript Materials includes Adams’ assignment files, day calendars, reporter’s notebooks, and Bathhouse studio records. Series VIII: Digital Materials includes a hard drive of 8,130 digital scans made by Adams. Series IX: Exhibit Prints is comprised of prints mounted at a Briscoe Center exhibit.

Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s "History Revealed: Bringing Collections to Light" project, 2009-2011.

Detailed Description of the Papers

I. Early Newspaper Features,
ca. 1950-1960:

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2009-109/1

Eternity Ahead for The Daily Dispatch

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2009-109/126

“In life and in death,” murder crime scene, 12/14/1955 for The Daily Dispatch